University of Virginia Library

THREE LOVE-SONNETS.

[I.]

[Oh madam, you [only], of all women true]

Oh madam, you [only], of all women true,
Nay, Virtue's selfe, that's more, for only you
Are that wch we imagine to be shee;
You, and but you, make virtue here to bee.
You, who by binding makes us truly free,
Whose only bondman lives in libertie.
You, in wch happie word all things are ment
Excepting wickedness and punishment.
You, that are you, wch I love more than I,
In whome my soule can rest, yett I not dye;
Nay, lives, by beeing those, for that's his place,
I, but a cabinet that keepes your face
Or model in my hart, for all that's I
May in your picture live, in you must dye.

II.

[Is there no day, madam, for you? is all]

Is there no day, madam, for you? is all
A sullen night? it is not out of choice;
Ffor watchful virtue never did reioice
In darknes, when it subiect was to fall.
But you are ledd by some unluckie hand
That guids yo'r feet into a path obscure,
Yett lookes that you as steadily should stand
As at nooneday, and keep your feet as pure.
Oh, pardon mee; should I bee guided soe
From light, from truth, and from the sight of men,
My guides should to[o] late and [too] clearely know
That darkness was the way to Error's den;
And hee should feele, that bard me from ye light,
The best tyme to revenge my wrongs were night.

III.

[Thou art not faire, for all thy redd and white]